1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides a system and methods for placing a visual label on a recording medium. In particular, the invention is directed to the individual placement of a visual label on a recordable optical disk at the time that digital information is recorded thereon.
The recordable compact disk is a compact disk capable of having digital information recorded thereon when placed in a compact disk recorder that receives the digital information from a computer. Recordable compact disks are referred to as "CD-Rs". Recordable compact disks differ from CD-ROMs which have digital information imprinted on a surface of the disk using a stamping procedure. The stamping procedure allows CD-ROMs to be replicated in bulk quantities. Another popular optical disk is the "write once read many times" (WORM) disk.
The CD-R and "write once read many times" disks are rapidly becoming the media of choice for distributing and archiving large data files. Because of their lower cost, compact size, and easy data accessibility, it is probable that these disks may replace magnetic media in an increasing number of applications.
When using the CD-R or other optical disks for data distribution and/or archiving, it is important to label the disks adequately. Because the CD-R is not mass-produced, it is not cost effective to silk screen a label on the disk as is the current method with the CD-ROM. Instead, present methods for labeling the CD-R include manually writing identification information on a label and attaching the label to the disk, or by taking a felt-tip pen or marker and writing identification information on the surface of the disk itself. However, such techniques are time consuming and are also error prone.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a system and method for individually printing or attaching labels on each disk immediately before or after it is recorded, without requiring the manual writing of identification information on a separate label that is to be attached to the disk, or the manual writing of information on the disk itself. By eliminating this kind of labeling, the greatest product quality and integrity as well as improved production cycle time can be assured.
2. Description of the Background Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,403 describes a system capable of reading a reel of magnetic tape containing a number of different programs to determine which segments of the tape contain each respective program. The system then provides for each segment of tape to be cut and spliced onto individual cassette tapes. Information on the tape can be used to print a label for each of the cassette tapes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,489 describes a tape recorder capable of recording digital information on a plurality of data tracks.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,954,968 and 4,886,462 describe printing systems, such as ink jet printers, that can be used to print identifying information.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,191 describes a storage unit for housing a plurality of disks that can be accessed by a robot arm to allow the information to be read from the disk.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,846 describes a camera capable of printing information directly on a photograph.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,081 describes a print scanner for detecting defects in the label of a compact disk.
The following patents describe various systems for handling disks: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,036,503; 5,056,073; 5,033,038; 5,101,388; and 5,099,465.